Tag Archives: Executive Director Andrea Hance
Gulf shrimp industry reeling from labor shortage
Nello Cassarino needs about 150 workers to dehead, peel, sort, package and freeze nearly 60,000 pounds of shrimp each day at his processing plant on Harborside Drive. And finding laborers is particularly difficult right now.,,, The industry has challenges from imported shrimp, but the labor shortage is the biggest issue commercial fishing faces, she said. Processing work typically pays about twice the minimum wage, which would be about $14 an hour, although it depends on the amount of shrimp being processed, Hance said. Pay for boat crews is more difficult to break down into an hourly amount because workers live aboard the boat for 30 to 45 days at a time. But workers may receive about $5,000 for a month at sea, depending on the catch, Hance said. >click to read<15:45
Brownsville Tx. – Shrimpers struggling to compete with imported shrimp
A slow start to the shrimping season has local shrimpers struggling to compete with imported farm-raised shrimp. Shrimpers are eager to return to local waters after being off for two months. “We have two boats and we’re probably one of the few people that actually jumped into this business without having a family history being in the business,” Texas Shrimp Association Executive Director Andrea Hance said. She’s been in the shrimping business since 2007. She said this season is slow, especially when it comes to their prized catch. “We have a niche market in terms of the large jumbo shrimp. We’re just not catching enough of them right now,” Hance said. She said they’re seeing a lot more small shrimp out in the Gulf which is unusual. A five-pound bag of locally-caught shrimp will cost someone about $30. Imported farm-raised shrimp will sell a similar bag for around $24. Video, Read the rest here 07:23
